Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hi everyone,

I had one of my nine cajuns die on me yesterday and I only have had them for two months.

The others seem ok.
No new plants or anything else.

Tank: 20 Gl
pH: 7.6
Substrate: Eco-complete
Ferts: None

Critters: Small tetras, clown and bushy nose pleco, three wood and a African filter shrimp and two briggs apple and MTS snails.

Water changes are done about every week to 1.5 weeks.

Any ideas?
Could it have been a bad molt?

They get regular fish food, Hikari wafers and Wardly shrimp pellets (I drought it’s the food as my cherries eat it and they are breeding like mad.)

TKD

Sometimes it just happens.

I don't see anything about your tank that would be especially harmful to them, although the pH is at the top end of the suggested range.

What size were they when you received them? Babies or adults?

Do check your food ingredients list for any copper compounds as a precaution.

The Wardley has copper sulphate in it but I very much dough that that is is as the other shrimp and snails are eating the same thing with no ill effects.

They were from Mustafa so they were juvies. 1 in or so?

TKD

Did you see evidence of a recent molt or did you touch it to see if it had a hard exoskeleton? If it had recently molted, it may have been killed by other crays while it was still hardening its new exoskeleton.

But as I said before, if it is just one and all the others seem fine, I wouldn't worry about it and continue caring for them as you have been.

Hi YuccaPatrol,

Thanks for the info....

It looked fine, as in no battle damage and I think it was hard.

I'm not sure that "spontaneous deaths" is an appealing idea though....

TKD

TKD wrote:
I'm not sure that "spontaneous deaths" is an appealing idea though....

TKD

I like to be able to explain such things too, but I just can't always come up with a reasonable explanation. In these cases, I try to just make a note of it and let it go unless I can see a pattern developing.

Crossing fingers that a pattern doesn't develop.

Hi everyone,

Well, last night saw that my smallest cray (this guy still has not grown in two months) was kinda fuzzy. I'm hopping that it was just the after affects of a molt. Anyway this made me decide to move the crays this morning to another tank (with regular gravel). As I was catching them I noticed that a female was berried YES finally.

Unfortunately, I was only able to find six cray instead pf eight.... the tank fairly open after I took the rocks out but I still can't see them. I'm not holding my breath though.

So a possible three have died...

TKD

Your situation seems to be bitter sweet, exspecting hatching of eggs but losing the adults. Hope the best for your crays. Please keep us updated.

With a new batch of babies comes new hope for your colony. They will adapt much better to your conditions and will thrive much easier if raised by you. Cajuns are generally tough though to begin with. Good luck with your eggs and may you have many babys soon.

Jason

Hi all,

Well the smallest cray that I had die on Thursday. I don't think he had moulted since I got him. It seemed that he was trying to moult as it looked like he has skin peeling off him. And this is since I had moved him about two weeks ago.

The female still seems to be to be holding eggs.
If it is the same female, she has been holding them for a long time, over two weeks...

So down to five crays now, at least I have a berried one.

TKD

Did you make sure that they are in a fully cycled tank with no traces of ammonia? If the tank is not fully cycled, then the babies will die after hatching. Traces of ammonia won't show up on the test kit, but they do affect shrimp and crayfish. Adults can take trace amounts of ammonia longer than hatchlings, who die shortly after hatching, but even the adults will die sooner or later. The first sign of things going wrong is if the crays are lethargic and refuse to eat.

Try putting some pond snails (Physa sp.) in there to see if there are traces of ammonia and other "bad" things. Pond snails are extremely sensitive to adverse water parameters and will die quickly if the water is not ideal for invertebrates. If the pond snails are not moving around and bahaving normally, then there is something wrong with your water.

Hi Mustafa,

In the 18 Gal toat that they are in now was used for fish, so in that sence it was cycled. I had put in two male cherries for a week and there were no problems....

I think it was just a matter of time for that cray as he was the same way in the 20 Gal, witch was over two weeks ago. Others have molted with out problem.

Just to add that there are only five crays in the toat.
So a very low bioload.

TKD